Alpaca, a natural product from the Andes

The culture in a country is more than the geography and the history; as we discussed in previous articles, food is also part of the culture; however, today I want to talk about the culture as the natural resources.

Some countries have unique natural resources that the communities employ to survive in their daily life. The "ALPACA", for instance, is a domestic animal that some of the Andean countries, such as Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile, employ to produce clothes. The Alpaca fiber is used for making men and women clothes exactly as other countries employ the cotton; however, the Alpaca fiber is still relatively unknown.

The alpaca fiber is stronger than the wool, however it is more lighter; and it is finner than the cashmere, and warmer than the sheep's wool. On the other hand, due to its characteristics (no prickly and no lanolin), Alpaca fiber is hypoallergenic.

Even more important, Alpaca is more environmentally friendly than traditional wools:

• Alpaca prefer to eat only plant leaves and not plant stems, therefore, the plants don't need composting that enrich pastures.
• Alpaca don't need to be laid down to reap their fiber, and its fiver grows every year, so it is a renewable resource.
• Alpaca fiber comes in 22 different natural color, so you don't need toxic dyes for processing the fiber and add colors.
• As Alpaca fiber does not contain lanolin, Alpaca fiber clothes don't require toxic chemicals to process the alpaca fiber and cleaning the clothes.

To find more information about alpacas, click here: http://www.alpacainfo.com/about/index.asp

Carla